Safe & Sound
by He Who Writes His Own Canon
Summary: AU season 5 (Klaine never got back together/the Warblers never got into the steroid scandal): After Kurt breaks up with him for someone else, Blaine finds himself falling for a classmate who likes him back. But this new target of Blaine's affections has a dark past, which will come to light with the arrival of a new student. Blaine/OC.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N**_: When I realized that this story wasn't going to fit into _**The Kurtbastian Series**_' canon, I decided to keep it a standalone story. This first chapter's been through some rewrites, so it's better than before. Enjoy.

* * *

Joel Richardson sat in his fifth period History class as Mr. Schuester lectured about World War II. He yawned and twirled his pencil in his hand. Another hour until school ended and he could go to Glee club and bitch about not getting a solo. He had decided to take up the role that Rachel Berry left when she graduated.

"Joel?" Mr. Schuester called.

"Yeah?" he answered, looking at the teacher.

"Are you paying attention?"

"Maybe. Why?" Joel smirked. His classmates snickered.

"Joel, you're not doing particularly well in this class." Mr. Schuester tapped his pointer on the desk. "You don't participate in class discussions."

"And you're singling me out in front of everyone? Nice teaching, Mr. Schue."

"Joel, stop starting arguments," Blaine Anderson sighed. Joel scoffed and sat back, folding his arms across his chest. The bell rang and Joel grabbed his bookbag, heading out into the hall while ignoring Blaine's attempts to talk to him. He bumped into someone, accidentally knocking the books out of their arms.

"Watch it, loser!" A voice snapped. Joel picked up the fallen books and looked back at a guy in a Letterman jacket. He knew most of the guys with such jackets but didn't recognize this one.

"Sorry," Joel chuckled. "I'm a bit of a klutz."

"Stay the fuck out of my way," the guy snarled, pushing Joel against a locker.

"Whoa, okay," Joel muttered. "No need to get all touchy-feely about it."

"Joel, you okay?" Blaine asked, walking over.

"Yeah." Joel brushed off his shirt and picked up his bag. "What a douche. Who is he?"

"Ian Cassidy," Blaine replied knowingly. "He just transferred from some school in Columbus or something."

"And he already has a letter jacket? Fun. Another dumbass jock to deal with," Joel sighed. "Well, last class is English Lit. Let's go."

* * *

An hour later, Joel walked into the choir room and found no one there. He glanced at his phone and looked around. Glee club was supposed to start five minutes ago. Shrugging, Joel pulled out his iPod.

"_I wanted your love, but look what it's done to me_

_All my dreams have come to nothing_

_Who would have believed_

_All the laughter that we shared would be a memory_

_I cannot count the tears you've cost me_

_If I could have seen_

_And do you ever think of me?_

_And how we used to be?_

_Oh, I know you're somewhere else right now_

_Loving someone else, no doubt_

_Well, I'm one for sorrow, ain't it too, too bad?_

_Are you breaking someone else's heart?_

_'Cuz you're taking my love where you are_

_Well, I'm one for sorrow_

_Ain't it too, too bad for us?_"

"Joel?" Joel wiped his eyes and looked for the source. "Hey, man, are you okay?" Ryder walked into the room with Marley, Kitty, and Tina.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just fine. Where were you guys?"

"Old Lady Hodges held us for talking during one of her boring lectures," Kitty said.

"Who were you singing about?" Marley quipped.

"No one special," Joel murmured, looking at his shoes. "He's not interested anyway. It doesn't matter."

"He goes here, doesn't he?" Kitty smirked.

"Let me guess. Is it Blaine?" Tina teased. Joel declined to answer and started shuffling through his iPod.

"Do you believe in true love, Joel?" Marley asked. Joel nodded. "You'll find someone. There's someone out there for everyone."

"Yeah, totally, you have a hot guy who's standing right in front of me. Ryder, you are, hands down, the hottest guy in Glee. Kitty has Artie. Sam has that attractive nursing student..."

"Come on, Joel..."

"And I have nobody!" he proclaimed dramatically, dropping to the floor. Watching Blaine enter the room, Joel averted his gaze.

"Okay, everyone, Nationals is in two weeks!" Mr. Schuester declared, coming into the room, followed by the rest of the club. Joel sighed loudly and went to the back of the room, settling himself behind Marley and Ryder. "And Blaine wanted to sing something for us."

"Ooh, big surprise there," Joel grumbled. He heard someone snicker and felt slightly better that someone agreed.

"_It's been seven hours and fifteen days_

_Since you took your love away_

_I go out every night and sleep all day_

_Since you took your love away_

_Since you been gone, I can do whatever I want_

_I can see whomever I choose_

_I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant_

_But nothing, I said, nothing can take away these blues_

_'Cause nothing compares,_

_Nothing compares to you,_"

Blaine sang softly, his eyes closed. Joel remebered when Blaine had entered the choir room two weeks earlier to tearfully announce that Kurt had broken up with him in favor of someone else.

"So are we going to audition for Nationals solos?" Tina piped up once Blaine sat down beside Joel, who rolled his eyes.

"Is a certain someone going to get another solo or duet with one of the more visually appealing members of the club?" Joel stood up.

"Dang, Joel, you're just like Rachel," Artie noted.

"That may be, but, unlike Rachel, nobody gives me the time of day," Joel huffed. "All I did was just sway in the background during Regionals while Blaine and Marley sang their pretty little hearts out. I demand recognition. Even a small solo in one song, I would be completely fine with."

"Joel, will you stop being an attention whore?" Blaine snapped.

"Oh, _I'm_ an attention whore? Who sings eighty percent of the songs in here? Who's been moping around for a bloody fortnight over someone who evidently doesn't love him especially if he's been flirting with an older man?" Joel was satisfied to see Blaine flush.

"I think everyone will agree with me when I say that we're all tired of you bitching endlessly about not singing enough. Some other people feel the same way, but they don't badger us constantly about it. We can win this without you, you know," Blaine hissed, clearly trying to control his anger.

"Blaine..." Mr. Schuester started to reprimand, but Joel didn't want to stick around; he silently grabbed his bag and stormed out of the room, but not without kicking over a chair in a very Finn-like fashion.

* * *

Joel ran down the hall, feeling tears prick his eyes. He knew he was never going to be as good a singer as Marley or dancer as Blaine, but the one thing that really got to him is the implication that he wasn't good enough for being in the club overall. Pushing through the front door, Joel sighed and leaned against the brick wall.

"Hey!" A voice called, snapping Joel out of his reverie. He saw that Ian guy coming towards him, flanked by two other guys.

"Um, hi again," Joel said. "Can I do something for you?"

"Yeah, you can go back into whatever fucking closet you came out of," Ian retorted, pinning Joel against the wall.

"W-wait, what did I do?" Joel looked wide-eyed at Ian.

"You know damn well what you did, you little whore." Ian shoved Joel into the arms of his thugs and punched him in the stomach. Joel tried to speak, but Ian's next punch silenced him. Another punch hit him in the face, and then he felt himself hit the pavement with Ian's foot colliding with his chest.

"You better watch yourself, fag." Ian kicked Joel in the chest again. Joel opened his left eye weakly to see Ian leave. He lay on his stomach and coughed up some blood.

"Shit." He rolled onto his back and sighed, lying there for God-knows-how-long until he seemed to black out. Before his eyes closed, he could've sworn he heard someone call his name.

"Joel...!"

And then, darkness.

* * *

_**Songs featured**_:

-_One for Sorrow_ (Steps) - Joel

-_Nothing Compares 2 U_ (Prince) - Blaine


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N**_: Sorry this took forever, but here's the next chapter.

* * *

"Joel?" Joel could hear a faraway voice, but it was slightly obstructed by white noise. "Joel, can you hear me?" He slowly opened his eyes and scanned the room. Much of the New Directions were there and Blaine was at his bedside.

"What the hell happened?" he murmured, moving to sit up, but his muscles wouldn't let him.

"Don't overexert yourself," Blaine whispered, moving his hair back.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, Joel," Ryder said. "We found you, all bruised and bloody, outside the school and Marley called an ambulance."

"The doctor says you have a sprained ankle and three fractured ribs," Blaine said, not looking directly at Joel.

"Damn," Joel complained, slumping.

"I think this has something to do with that new kid. I saw the way he treated Joel earlier," Sam whispered to Blaine, who nodded.

"Did Ian Cassidy make contact with you in any way?"

"He called me a whore and told me to go back into the closet," Joel swallowed. "For once, I don't know what I did to piss him off." Blaine stood up, but Joel grabbed his hand. "Blaine, wait, I-I have to tell you something."

"Here it comes," Kitty said in a stage-whisper, nudging Ryder.

Joel took a deep shuddering breath. "I love you, Blaine. I've loved you since I met you last year. You were the first person who stood up for me. I never had the courage to tell you before." Blaine stood, looking down at Joel, who released his hand. "I'm sorry for what I said. I was just mad."

Blaine was silent for a moment before turning to Sam. "Everyone out. I need to talk to Joel." Sam herded the Glee club out of the room, closing the door behind him. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said you were worthless."

"It's fine," he shrugged. "When I was a Warbler, that's all they ever told me. '_Joel, you're a waste of space_', '_Why did we ever initiate you?_', '_You can't do the steps right_', on and on and on."

"You are not a waste of space. You are one of the most honest and outspoken people I have ever met." Blaine took Joel's hand and squeezed it. "You were right. I _do_ sing a lot of the songs in that choir room. I _have_ done nothing but mope about Kurt breaking up with me for some British guy whose name escapes me. I need to move on."

"Maybe... with me?" Joel half-smiled. Blaine bit his lip.

"Maybe. That's all I can say for now. You get out of the hospital first, then we'll talk." Sam, Ryder, Marley, and Artie came back into the room. Sam was carrying his guitar.

"Everyone else took off, but we decided to stay back and keep you company." Ryder took the seat on the other side of Joel's bed as Blaine had taken the right side. "We're sorry we didn't stick up for you." Marley, Sam, and Artie nodded.

"It's cool, guys," Joel shrugged it off. "You couldn't have stopped it. Besides, I'm used to it."

Sam began to strum his guitar and sing:

"_When you're down and troubled_

_And you need a helping hand_

_And nothing, nothing is going right_

_Close your eyes and think of us_

_And soon we will be there_

_To brighten up even your darkest night._"

Artie, Ryder, and Marley joined in.

"_You just call out our names_

_And you know wherever we are_

_We'll come running to see you again_

_Winter, spring, summer or fall_

_All you have to do is call_

_And we'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah_

_You've got a friend._"

"Thanks, guys." Joel smiled. "I feel a lot better already."

* * *

Joel was in the hospital for a week before being allowed to leave. Blaine signed his discharge papers as no one was able to reach Joel's parents, which, as Joel noted while he was wheeled out, was no big surprise.

"They don't care about me," he told Blaine on the car ride back to McKinley. It was just past one and—due to Joel's lengthy disciplinary record—the school said that he had to return upon release. "The only kids they actually care about are my brother and sister. Why? Because Aaron's the whiz kid and Becky is Daddy's little girl. At least I can depend on them to help me out." Blaine had met both Aaron and Becky when they came to visit. Becky went to an all-girls school in Cincinnati and Aaron to college in Indianapolis.

Blaine parked as close as he could to the front door and helped Joel out of the car. "You sure you're going to be okay coming back here so soon?" He eyed Joel's crutches.

"I'll be fine," he said. "Besides, crutches can be used in self-defense."

"Joel, don't do that." Blaine shook his head. "You don't need any more trouble than what's already happened. See you in Glee club?"

"Yeah, see you there." Joel hobbled into McKinley and instantly had all eyes on him. "Goddamn it." He went down the hallway and stopped mid-way. "What is everybody staring at? If it's about me being on crutches, that's not my fault. A certain son of a bitch decided to kick the crap out of me, reasons of which remain unknown to me." He continued on his way, the bell ringing in his ear, and suddenly felt himself fall to the floor.

"So I'm a son of a bitch?" Ian sneered, kicking Joel's knapsack down the now-deserted hallway. "Know what you are, Richardson? You're a dwarf who doesn't know when to fucking stop. I've seen you flirt with every guy who crosses your path." He stepped closer and yanked Joel up by his shirt.

"Put me down!" Joel tried to pry Ian's hands off but failed. "I do not flirt with _every_ guy I see! I know I piss people off, but you... I have no idea what I did to you to deserve this." Ian released Joel and Joel's broken leg hit the tile floor particularly hard. He grit his teeth to keep from yelling.

The blond jock bent down beside Joel. "I saw the way you were looking at me when I first walked in here. Next time I see that look on your face, I'm punching it off." He smirked and pushed Joel backwards to the floor and walked away, high-fiving his two buddies.

Joel lay on the floor although he should be in Mr. Trevorrow's science class. He heard a door open and someone run over to him. It was Ryder and Jake.

"You alright, Joel?" Ryder asked worriedly while Jake grabbed Joel's bag and his crutch.

"Do I seem alright?" Joel sniped, clearly annoyed.

"Relax, dude. Here's your bag." Jake dropped Joel's bag at his feet and, with Ryder, helped him up.

"Thanks, guys." Joel smiled once back on his crutches. "I'll see you later." He managed his way into room 237 and Mr. Schuester looked at him.

"You're ten minutes late, Joel," he sighed, putting a hand to his head.

"Do I look like I'm in the condition that I can just waltz right in?" Joel dumped his stuff next to Artie and sat down. "Hey, Artie."

"Hey, Joel, how you holding up?" Artie straightened his glasses and offered a smile. "Ian Cassidy give you any trouble?"

"Stupid prick threatened to beat me up again if he sees me with my lust expression," Joel mumbled.

"Isn't that virtually every expression?" Joel narrowed his eyes. "Sorry, not the time."

"Joel, would you be so kind as to tell us where Hitler transcribed _Mein Kampf_?" Mr. Schuester asked, tapping his pointer in one hand.

"In prison, 1923. Book was published in two parts, the first in 1925, second in 1926," Joel replied, not looking up. The teacher looked slightly surprised and Joel looked up. "What?"

"You just answered what would have been my next two questions in less than thirty seconds," Mr. Schuester said. "You've never been this good of a student."

"I have my moments," Joel shrugged before looking down at his textbook. Artie nudged the brunet and shot him a thumbs-up.

* * *

When the final bell rang, Joel looked out from the classroom he occupied for Ian Cassidy. He maneuvered down the hallway and into the choir room without incident. He turned and found Ryder and Marley right where he was about to move.

"Oh, God, you scared me!" He moved around the two and into a seat closest to an exit.

"So how's life on crutches, Tiny Tim?" Kitty asked, coming in, hand-in-hand with Artie. Joel rolled his eyes and raised a crutch to lift her Cheerios skirt.

"Can't complain," he smirked as she pulled it down.

"I thought you were gay." Kitty glared.

"I am. Doesn't stop me from teasing girls though." Joel put on his most charming smile as Blaine walked past and sat beside him.

"Are you being a pervert?" Blaine elbowed him.

"Depends on how you define 'pervert'." Joel grinned wickedly. Blaine rolled his eyes and stood up as soon as everyone had gathered.

"He's gonna sing again," Tina whispered to Jake. "The second he gets up, you know it's coming."

"So, after a week, Joel has come back to us. I'd like to publicly apologize to him for how I acted. We do need you, Joel. If we're going to win Nationals, we need your uncanny ability to create mash-ups." Blaine smiled.

"I did make up one while in the hospital." Joel had been alone during the weekdays since everyone else had school and had used the time to work on a Nationals set list that he would offer everyone else upon returning. "It would be perfect as a girls performance."

"What is it?" Marley looked up from gazing into Ryder's eyes.

"_Strong Enough_ and _Save Up All Your Tears_, both by Cher." Joel looked rather pleased with himself.

"Seems pretty gay," Kitty muttered. Joel chose to ignore this and waited for a response from everyone else.

"Personally, I love it." Unique raised her hand.

"Me too." Tina added her hand. Marley did the same and Kitty, realizing she was outnumbered, sighed in defeat and raised her hand as well.

"Settled." Mr. Schuester wrote on the whiteboard under Nationals set list: Cher mash-up. "Anyone else?"

"How about a song for the seniors?" Sam spoke up. "I mean, this is the last competition for me, Blaine, Artie, Tina, and Joel."

"It better be a sitting song 'cause I can't dance," Joel grumbled. "And neither can Artie," he added as an afterthought.

"Remember when this used to be a stool choir?" Tina leaned down to ask Artie, who nodded.

"Hey, Mr. Schue, do you know who we're going up against at Nationals?" Blaine asked.

"I was actually just about to get into that." Mr. Schuester pulled an envelope from his bag and opened it. "Our competition will be Vocal Adrenaline, Throat Explosion, and the Warblers." Joel's face paled at the mention of the Warblers and he quickly left the room.

"That was weird. What's that about?" Artie tilted his glasses, looking at Blaine.

"Joel was a Warbler and they didn't particularly treat him as well as most of the team," Blaine said softly before chasing after Joel.

* * *

Joel sat outside on the bleachers, watching football practice. He donned sunglasses and a newsboy cap to avoid being recognized by Ian. He laid his crutches behind him and sighed, knowing that if he showed up at Nationals, Hunter Clarington would give him nothing short of crap for transferring to McKinley.

"Joel?" Blaine sat beside him. "What's going on?"

"Did I ever tell any of you the real reason I transferred to McKinley?" Joel's eyes were still settled on the football field, where he watched Ian knocking almost every other guy down without hesitation.

Blaine shook his head. "No. I take it that it wasn't just because you wanted more freedom?"

"No," Joel chuckled. "Well, it was partly that, but also because Hunter threatened me with bodily harm if I screwed up during a competition again."

Blaine remembered that the Warblers only won their Sectionals competition because the other two groups had too few members to really compete. He saw an online video where one Warbler—he just now realized was Joel—fumbled his dance steps during their performance.

"Even though we won, Hunter grabbed me in the bathroom back at Dalton—I shared a room with Mein Warblerness—and promised to beat me senseless if I fucked up again. So I was on the first transfer wagon here."

"And that's why you showed up just after Sectionals." Joel nodded.

"Yep." He sighed quietly. "I just wish I could dance at Nationals."

"I know." Blaine placed a hand on Joel's and gave the boy a small smile. "Can I take you up on that offer to move on with you?"

Joel grinned and kissed Blaine, who put an arm on Joel's shoulder, returning the kiss.

* * *

_**Songs featured**_:

-_You've Got a Friend_ (McFly) - Sam, Artie, Ryder, and Marley


End file.
